Nebraska would owe Scott Frost as much as $26 million if it moves on from coach

As Nebraska’s football program continues falling to new lows, there is a way it could get a lot worse:

If school officials decided that their decision to hire Scott Frost as head coach was so wrong that they decided the best way forward would be to fire him.

Saturday, the Cornhuskers fell to 0-6 for the first time in program history with an overtime loss to Northwestern, which tied the game on a 99-yard touchdown drive that ended with 12 seconds left in regulation.

At present, moving on from Frost would mean the school would be obligated to pay Frost as much as $26 million. Frost’s contract originally was for seven years, through Dec. 31, 2024. Nebraska would owe him $5 million for each year remaining through Dec. 31, 2022, with any partial year paid pro-rata. Then it would owe him $2.5 million for each of the final two years.

The final tab for Frost likely would be offset by income from his future employment, but the school also would be looking at obligations to his 10 assistants and his top strength coach, all of whom are under contract through Dec. 31, 2019. They would be owed all of the money remaining on their deals. So if none of them were retained, that would add up to at least another $4.875 million, also subject to offset from future employment.

Nebraska is still paying both of Frost’s predecessors, Bo Pelini and Mike Riley. The payout for Pelini, which is being offset by his contract as Youngstown State’s head coach, continues through February 2019 at a rate of about $1.5 million annually. Riley was owed about $6.6 million when he was fired last year. He is now an assistant at Oregon State, but his pay there isn’t doing much to help Nebraska. His salary is $50,004; he got a $35,000 signing bonus and is scheduled to get a $35,000 retention payment in 2019.

In addition, Nebraska is paying former athletics director Shawn Eichorst, who was owed $1.7 million when he was dismissed last year. But he too now has another job, as Texas’ executive senior associate AD for internal affairs — and his pay from Texas is offsetting what Nebraska owes him.